Alison Paige - Little Red and the Wolf

“Oh, mwap mwap, dear. They’re mwap. Could you mwap them in mwap mwap me? There’s a mwap in the mwap mwap.” Granny shook her fork toward the bathroom door.

“Sure, Mom.”

That man was not Riddly Hood. Maizie’s father never would’ve brought his mother the wrong flowers. A strange vibration hummed in her chest, a low growl filled her ears. It took a second to realize the growl was coming from inside her, anger manifesting in her new wolf form. She liked it.

The moment the strange imposter left the room, Granny fumbled at her chest. She found her locket and worked hard to open it. A wide sentimental grin filled her face, a sadness pinching the corner of her eyes as she gazed at the pictures inside.

“I, ah, brought mwap papers we mwap about,” the man said from the bathroom.

Granny hurried to close the locket, fisting it in her hand before he strolled back into the room, vase overflowing with roses. He paused for a moment, his gaze studying her face then dropping to her hands at her chest. His expression darkened, his smile suddenly more stiff, forced.

“What’ya mwap there, Mom?”

“Mwap nothing, mwap.” But the phony Riddly’s attention was riveted. He set the vase on Granny’s nightstand and reached for her hands.

The growl vibrating through Maizie grew louder. She took another bold step into the light.

Granny giggled. Let him open her hands. “Just mwap mwap locket. The picture’s so old. You hardly look like yourself. And look at little Maizie. Barely five years old.”

The man studied the pictures, his thick black brows wrinkled tight over his dark eyes. But then he smiled, closed the locket and placed it gently on her chest. “That picture mwap mwap ages ago. I looked mwap a different person mwap then.”

Granny nodded, her smile bright. “Still handsome mwap mwap, though.”

“Thanks, Mom.” The man slipped a hand into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a thin stack of papers folded long-ways. He set them on the tray next to Granny’s tart then placed a thick fancy pen beside them.

“Mwap I miss mwap top twenty mwap?” He nodded toward the TV.

“Mwap on sixteen. Sit, sit, mwap a little mwap mwap with mwap old mwap,” Granny said.

“Old.” He scoffed. “You’ll mwap mwap us all.” He pulled the storage bench from around the end of her bed then dragged one of the high-backed chairs closer. He dropped into it with a casualness that belied his sophisticated attire and propped his expensive leather-shoed feet on the bench.

What were the papers he talked about, the ones sitting conspicuously on Granny’s tray? And who the hell was he anyway? There was something familiar about him, but her wolf brain wouldn’t make the connection. It didn’t matter. Everything inside Maizie told her she needed to get him away from Granny. Even her wolf-half agreed.

She backed into the shadows again, jogging toward the end of the building. Maybe she could find a door propped open or slip in behind someone else. She had to get to Granny, protect her, despite her instinctive fear of humans.

She edged along the building, skirting the pockets of light as best she could. She turned a final corner where the forest and grass ended. Her toes edged against the wide expanse of blacktop. Before her, the parking lot of Green Acres Nursing Home stretched between her and the front door.

The forest encircled Green Acres on three sides, leaving the front façade and the parking lot exposed. The lot was lit like daylight by three enormous lights placed just right to keep shadows at bay. Beyond the parking lot, directly across from the nursing home, cars whizzed by on a busy two-lane road, and on the other side of that, the night evaporated in the glow of human encroachment. A restaurant, a grocery store, a gas station and more-the edge of civilization on one side, acres and acres of forest behind her. Maizie wanted to turn back so badly her muscles ached from the restraint.

Granny . She needed her and Maizie took a tentative step. The black ground was warm on her pads, still holding the heat from a sunny day. She moved farther, her gaze fixed on the glass entrance. Inside she could see the front desk and a familiar face seated behind it. What was her name?

It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t recognize Maizie like this anyway. Maizie kept moving slow and steady. She stayed low to the ground, crouched, trying to be smaller, less noticeable. It was pointless, she knew, she was utterly exposed.

A car door slammed and Maizie froze, heart pounding. Her gaze darted over the parking lot, five cars. Her ears twitched, she sniffed. Nothing. Muscles tensed, wanting to run, but she didn’t move.

“Maizie?”

She knew that voice, deep and rich, soothing like…

“It’s mwap…Gray. Mwap it easy, mwap mwap?”

Gray? Maizie followed the voice with her eyes. She found him standing next to a long black car parked by the forest on the other side. She watched him, his hands low, out from his body as though he meant to seem less threatening. Her instincts weren’t buying it.

She sniffed again and picked up only a hint of his scent when the wind shifted around, bouncing off the building. Mmmm…she knew that smell, earth and plants, the forest, but there was more. A hint of sweetness, human cologne. Maizie’s wolf-half balked at the odor, edging backward.

“No. Wait.” He stopped moving. “I mwap help. Let mwap mwap with you.”

Maizie knew the words, but couldn’t wrap her wolf brain around their meaning. He was human. She didn’t trust humans. She moved another step back.

“Jeezus, you mwap mwap beautiful animal. I know mwap, scared and you’re mwap mwap mwap half of mwap mwap saying, but mwap mwap be mwap mwap running mwap alone.”

Maizie took another step back. Why was she even out in the open like this? Where was she going? She couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter. She had to get away. She had to run, her instincts demanded it and they were too hard to ignore.

She turned, but something about the human stopped her. She looked back and saw his face contorting, changing shape. He stripped out of his shirt, popping buttons, throwing the remains to the ground. He moved to his pants, working his buckle and zipper even as he toed off his shoes. He was naked in seconds, his body shrinking, skin rolling as though his bones moved and reshaped beneath the flesh.

Thick silvery fur sprouted over his shoulders, rippled down his chest to his belly, hiding his penis and balls in an instant. He fell forward, his arms and legs changing to paws before they touched the ground. Just like that he was a wolf.

He snorted with a hard shake of his head, pausing as though he needed a moment to recoup. Then his pale blue wolf eyes focused on her and he sauntered forward. Maizie’s muscles twitched, the urge to run screaming loud in her head.

Yes, he was a wolf, but he was a male wolf. The apprehension remained, only the reasons for it had changed. This wasn’t her territory and she knew with a shift of the wind it was his. She’d detected his scent all over the forest. This place belonged to him and his pack. She was an outsider. If she were male, she’d likely already be dead. As a female there were choices-for him, not her.

He could attack, deciding he had enough females in his pack and dominating another wasn’t worth the trouble. Or he could take her now, possess her, claim her as his own. Either way, Maizie would have little to say in the matter. He was at least six inches taller at the shoulder and a solid fifty pounds heavier. His decision would be absolute.

A warm shudder tickled under her fur down her back. Even in wolf form the thought of him taking her was an erotic temptation. But until she knew his intentions, complete passivity could be fatal.